The Learning Organization

Program/Project Management Resource List #70

Revised March 2012

"research authorizations . . . are intended to be rather broad in scope so as to permit the technical staff to use their own initiative in pursuing the problems.", George Lewis, the NACA's first director of research, in Model Research, vol. I, p. 104.

A learning organization incorporates the best elements of knowledge management, innovation management, group dynamics, and change management to create an environment in which its workers freely share their experiences, where they're given the freedom to create products and processes which fulfill the organization's vision, and react quickly to changes in their environment. As one can see from the above quote, NACA, NASA's "ancestor", possessed many of the cultural attributes of a learning organization long before the phrase was used in 1990. They are part of NASA's recipe for a successful future.

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Wall, Gregory H. "Developing Learning Organizations at the Small Unit Level", in: Essays Submitted for the General Douglas MacArthur Military Leadership Writing Competition, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Ft. Leavenworth, KS, 2010.